{"id":769553,"date":"2026-09-13T17:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T17:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/769553\/"},"modified":"2026-09-13T17:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T17:44:12","slug":"boy-13-dies-weeks-before-birthday-after-hay-fever-symptoms-were-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/769553\/","title":{"rendered":"Boy, 13, dies weeks before birthday after ‘hay fever’ symptoms were cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jake Swinscoe underwent months of chemotherapy and proton beam radiotherapy before the rare cancer spread, leaving him to make the heartbreaking decision to stop the treatment\"A<\/p>\n

Jake told his family: “We tried out best”(Image: Lynsey Swinscoe \/ SWNS)<\/p>\n

A 13-year-old boy died from an aggressive cancer<\/a> after his mum initially mistook his symptoms for hay fever<\/a> and end-of-term tiredness.<\/p>\n

Jake Swinscoe was diagnosed with stage 3 fusion-positive alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma in July 2023 and died just two weeks before his 14th birthday.<\/a><\/p>\n

Before doctors discovered the rare soft-tissue cancer, Jake had suffered from a stuffy nose, watery eyes and tiredness. His mum Lynsey Swinscoe had been giving him antihistamines before school, believing seasonal allergies were to blame. The family only realised something more serious could be wrong after noticing swelling across the bridge of his nose.<\/p>\n

\"Jake<\/p>\n

Lynsey is now training to become a radiotherapist in her son’s memory(Image: Lynsey Swinscoe \/ SWNS)<\/p>\n

Jake later underwent nine rounds of chemotherapy and 28 sessions of proton beam radiotherapy in London. But after the cancer spread and further treatment left him seriously unwell, he made the decision to stop chemotherapy.<\/p>\n

Jake died peacefully at home on April 26, 2024. Before his death, he made one poignant request to his mum, telling her: \u201cI want to be well-known and not forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lynsey, 43, is now honouring that wish through charity work and by training to become a radiotherapist after being inspired by the care her son received. Looking back at the first signs that something was wrong, she said: \u201cWe thought the symptoms were nothing more than hay fever at first.<\/p>\n

\u201cJake was tired, had a stuffy nose and watery eyes, and I was giving him antihistamines before school each morning, which seemed to work. So we didn\u2019t think anything was seriously wrong. He was also tired but we thought it was the hot weather<\/a> and end of term tiredness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen we noticed a swelling across the bridge of his nose between his eyes. But even then he played sport and we thought he may have been hit with something. Our GP sent him to Salisbury District Hospital for an X-ray and they had found a mass in his nasal cavity.<\/p>\n

He was later referred to Southampton’s children hospital to undertake further test, where the family were told it was likely to be rhabdomyosarcoma, a type of soft tissue cancer.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cUp until then, Jake hadn\u2019t looked particularly unwell, so I don\u2019t think I\u2019d fully grasped how serious it was.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to CCLG: The Children & Young People\u2019s Cancer Association, some general common childhood cancer symptoms are:Feeling very tired and exhausted all of the time and\/or noticeable skin palenessHaving lots of infections (such as ear, throat or chest) that don’t go away or keep coming backHaving flu-like symptoms that don’t go away (such as lethargy, high temperature, being sick)*Unexplained or excessive bleeding such as in urine, poo or when being sick*Bruising easily or a rash of small red spots on the skin (called ‘petechiae’)*Persistent and unexplained sweating or fever especially at night*Aches and pains that don’t go away, especially in the bones, joints, back or legs, and may be worse at night*Unexplained new limp or leg weakness*Changes when going for a poo such as constipation, diarrhoea, pain or feeling of not having finished*Feeling a lump, swelling or unusual firmness anywhere on the body, especially in the abdomen, neck, chest, pelvis or armpits*Losing a significant and unexplained amount of weight in teenagers*Slow growth in children*Change in behaviour such as persistent crying and screaming in young children, sleeping a lot, being off food<\/p>\n

Jake underwent nine rounds of chemotherapy between August and March, as well as 28 sessions of proton beam radiotherapy in London.<\/p>\n

After his final chemotherapy treatment, an MRI scan revealed the cancer had spread to his lymph nodes.<\/p>\n

Lynsey added: \u201cFurther chemotherapy was offered to help manage his symptoms and prolong his life, but shortly after starting treatment he suffered severe seizures. His first seizure nearly killed him and he spent time in intensive care.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter that he told us he didn\u2019t want any more chemotherapy because it made him feel so ill.<\/p>\n

\u201cJake was incredibly calm. He simply said, \u2018We tried our best.\u2019 One of the things he said that always makes me smile was, \u2018At least I won\u2019t have to deal with the cost-of-living crisis.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Jake lived for another four weeks after deciding to stop treatment. During that time, his family focused on making the most of the moments he still felt well enough to enjoy.<\/p>\n

\"Jake<\/p>\n

His mum Lynsey initially thought his symptoms were seasonal allergies(Image: Lynsey Swinscoe \/ SWNS)<\/p>\n

Lynsey said: \u201cWe took him fishing<\/a>, which he loved, and he finally got to see his sister catch a fish, something that had always been on his bucket list. We were also able to arrange some special experiences for him. He received messages from YouTuber Daz Games and Formula One driver Lando Norris, and he got to ride in a supercar.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost importantly, we spent time together as a family, rewatching his favourite TV shows and seeing loved ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore he died, Jake even gave us instructions for his funeral. He wanted a blue coffin and specific songs played like Here Comes The Sun by the Beatles. It showed the kind of person he was, thoughtful and remarkably mature for someone so young.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lynsey, who is also mum to Ava, 19, has since secured a place to study Radiotherapy at the University of Liverpool. She has also joined forces with CCLG: The Children & Young People\u2019s Cancer Association to promote its campaign aiming to improve early diagnosis.<\/p>\n

Lynsey hopes to raise awareness of childhood cancer symptoms, secure better research funding and push for kinder treatments for young patients. She added: \u201cWhat shocked me most was being told that the treatment Jake received had barely changed in 40 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a parent, that doesn\u2019t feel good enough. We need kinder, more effective treatments for children facing this disease.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jake Swinscoe underwent months of chemotherapy and proton beam radiotherapy before the rare cancer spread, leaving him to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":769554,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[847,59,12772,102,2196,10447,56,54,55,67139],"class_list":["post-769553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-cancer","tag-gb","tag-hay-fever","tag-health","tag-hospitals","tag-the-beatles","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-university-of-liverpool"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=769553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/769554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=769553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=769553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}